A stored value card is a card that represents some kind of value, typically financial value. For example, a stored value card might be redeemable at a particular store for a certain monetary value in merchandise or services. A stored value card might simply represent an amount of cash, which might be used, for example, as a substitute for a credit or debit card in making any kind of purchase, or to pay off debt. A stored value card might be restricted to a particular set of products or services; for example, it might represent ten deluxe car washes at some gas station. A gift card is a particular kind of stored value card, one purchased by a donor as a gift for, e.g., a friend, a relative, or an employee.
A stored value card must typically be activated before it can be used to spend a portion of its stored value. This requirement protects the card retailer by reducing both the likelihood and the consequences of theft while the cards are displayed, and accessible to the public, in a store. The card is activated by an initial scanning at the point of sale at the time when it is purchased, and, at the same time, an initial amount is associated with the card.
The initially added funds give the stored value card an initial value balance. The stored value represented by the card is reduced when the card is used to make a purchase. Additional value for the card can typically be purchased from the card issuer or a card seller. In the case of a gift card, the donee or the donor might be able to buy additional stored value.
The balance of value remaining on the stored value card may be stored as an account in an electronic recordkeeping system, or database. In this case, the card must contain a device that provides identifying indicia for the account, such as a bar or UPC code, a magnetic stripe, a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, a smart chip, or other identifying device. In general, account indicia, such as a magnetic stripe or a barcode, and may also include a human readable number and a Product Identification Number (PIN). A stored value card may include a plurality of account indicia, such as a barcode, a human readable number corresponding to the barcode, and a magnetic stripe.
In the case of a card with a smart chip, or other device where the card itself contains logic in the form of hardware (including possibly a processor) and/or software instructions, the stored value balance may be maintained within the card itself. When a stored value card is redeemed, for example to make a purchase, then the account balance is reduced by the purchase amount. At a retail establishment, the account balance is usually automatically adjusted at the point of sale by the action of scanning the card, or manually by a salesperson making a data entry.
A stereo headset is a pair of speakers, or headphones, that, when in operation, are worn close to a user's ears. A monaural headset may have a single headphone worn on one ear. The headphones include means for communicating from a source, such as a personal audio device, to feed audio through the speakers. Examples of personal audio devices include handheld electronics devices such as portable music players and cell phones; computers; portable video/movie players; recorders; dictation machines, and in-home stereo and television systems. Although this document deals primarily with wired communication, headphones may also be wireless. In a wired headset, wires typically connect the speakers to a connector or jack. The jacks can have a variety of configurations, with different standards for different purposes. A jack having a 3.5 mm diameter is a standard used for portable electronic devices, such as cell phones and portable music players, and laptop computers.
A headset also includes means for holding the speakers close to the user's ears. In some headsets, a metal or plastic band straddles the user's head, with the length and/or tension in the band keeping earmuff-style headphones in place. Earbuds, or earphones, are small headphones that are placed inside the user's ear canal. An earbud may be held in place simply by pressure from the ear chamber itself, or may be attached to a holder or brace that goes partially around the ear for this purpose. An earbud headset is lightweight, compact, and relatively inexpensive. Portable music players and cell phones are often packaged for sale together with a compatible earbud headset.
Typically, earbud headset wiring will be shaped like the letter ‘Y’. The jack will terminate a single wire of the headset, corresponding to the lower portion of the Y. To provide specificity, we will refer to this single wire is the “jack wire” of the headset. At some junction point, the single wire will fork into a two wires, with a respective earbud terminating each of the wires in the pair. We will refer to this pair of wires as the “earbud wires” of an earbud headset.